SB 33: Public “Right to Participate” during Subdivision Development Phases Jeapordized

SB 33, by Senator Tom Richmond (R-Billings), eliminates the constitutional “right to participate” components of the subdivision act that allow a developer to build a development in phases.

The 2017 legislature changed the law to make sure that when a subdivision is proposed to be developed in phases, over time, the local government must hold a public hearing at each new phase and consider changes that may have occurred since the original proposal was approved. SB 33 takes a hatchet to that new law and eliminates the public’s right to participate at subsequent phases of the development and it eliminates the local government’s ability to consider changes that have occurred since the original proposal was approved.

The bill was tabled in the Senate Local Government Committee on January 23rd, and likely will not pass.

Status

Heard in the Senate Local Government Committee on January 16th. Tabled in committee on January 21st. Likely dead.